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Time Trends in Human Fecundability in Sweden.

Scheike, Thomas ; Rylander, Lars LU orcid ; Carstensen, Lisbeth ; Keiding, Niels ; Kold Jensen, Tina ; Strömberg, Ulf LU ; Joffe, Michael and Akre, Olof (2008) In Epidemiology 19. p.191-196
Abstract
BACKGROUND:: Trends in biologic fertility are elusive. Possible negative trends in male reproductive health are still debated, and their effect on human fertility might be negligible. Time-to-pregnancy (TTP) is a functional measure of couple fecundability. METHODS:: We analyzed data on TTP among 832,000 primiparous women 20 years of age and older in the nationwide Swedish Medical Birth Registry from 1983 through 2002. This age restriction led to an exclusion of 10% of primiparous pregnancies. Subfertility (TTP >/=1 year) was analyzed as a function of maternal age, calendar time at initiation of attempt, and birth cohort-taking into account the truncation problems that are inherent in birth-based retrospective sampling. RESULTS::... (More)
BACKGROUND:: Trends in biologic fertility are elusive. Possible negative trends in male reproductive health are still debated, and their effect on human fertility might be negligible. Time-to-pregnancy (TTP) is a functional measure of couple fecundability. METHODS:: We analyzed data on TTP among 832,000 primiparous women 20 years of age and older in the nationwide Swedish Medical Birth Registry from 1983 through 2002. This age restriction led to an exclusion of 10% of primiparous pregnancies. Subfertility (TTP >/=1 year) was analyzed as a function of maternal age, calendar time at initiation of attempt, and birth cohort-taking into account the truncation problems that are inherent in birth-based retrospective sampling. RESULTS:: Subfertility generally decreased over successive birth cohorts. When studied as a period effect, a transient increase in subfertility was seen in the early 1990s. Subfertility increased with age, except that for women in their late 1930s, an apparent decrease was observed, particularly among the early cohorts. CONCLUSION:: We found decreasing subfertility over time. We speculate that these patterns might be related to a Sweden-specific decrease over time in sexually transmitted diseases, to changes in sexual behavior induced by socioeconomic conditions, or to broader biologic or educational trends. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Epidemiology
volume
19
pages
191 - 196
publisher
Wolters Kluwer
external identifiers
  • pmid:18223482
  • wos:000253401400005
  • scopus:39149115985
  • pmid:18223482
ISSN
1531-5487
DOI
10.1097/EDE.0b013e31816334ad
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0df497b7-3f8b-42d5-83b3-01a2a180fa13 (old id 1021025)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18223482?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 08:54:46
date last changed
2022-01-29 07:39:34
@article{0df497b7-3f8b-42d5-83b3-01a2a180fa13,
  abstract     = {{BACKGROUND:: Trends in biologic fertility are elusive. Possible negative trends in male reproductive health are still debated, and their effect on human fertility might be negligible. Time-to-pregnancy (TTP) is a functional measure of couple fecundability. METHODS:: We analyzed data on TTP among 832,000 primiparous women 20 years of age and older in the nationwide Swedish Medical Birth Registry from 1983 through 2002. This age restriction led to an exclusion of 10% of primiparous pregnancies. Subfertility (TTP >/=1 year) was analyzed as a function of maternal age, calendar time at initiation of attempt, and birth cohort-taking into account the truncation problems that are inherent in birth-based retrospective sampling. RESULTS:: Subfertility generally decreased over successive birth cohorts. When studied as a period effect, a transient increase in subfertility was seen in the early 1990s. Subfertility increased with age, except that for women in their late 1930s, an apparent decrease was observed, particularly among the early cohorts. CONCLUSION:: We found decreasing subfertility over time. We speculate that these patterns might be related to a Sweden-specific decrease over time in sexually transmitted diseases, to changes in sexual behavior induced by socioeconomic conditions, or to broader biologic or educational trends.}},
  author       = {{Scheike, Thomas and Rylander, Lars and Carstensen, Lisbeth and Keiding, Niels and Kold Jensen, Tina and Strömberg, Ulf and Joffe, Michael and Akre, Olof}},
  issn         = {{1531-5487}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{191--196}},
  publisher    = {{Wolters Kluwer}},
  series       = {{Epidemiology}},
  title        = {{Time Trends in Human Fecundability in Sweden.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e31816334ad}},
  doi          = {{10.1097/EDE.0b013e31816334ad}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}